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MMH Defeats Motion for Punitive Damages in High Profile Product Liability Case
Chris Morin and Bobby Morvay of the firm’s Tampa office successfully defeated a plaintiff’s Motion to Amend the Complaint to Include Punitive Damages in a high profile product liability matter. In the case, the Plaintiff contended he suffered a permanent heart condition as the result of Defendants’ sale of an over the counter nutritional supplement which was later confirmed to contain a synthetic steroid. Plaintiff argued that punitive damages should be an appropriate remedy for the jury’s consideration because Defendants’ conduct in selling a supplement which was later banned by the FDA and DEA constituted “gross negligence.” Chris and Bobby convinced the Court through use of a carefully crafted timeline that because their clients were not involved in the design, manufacturing, labeling, testing or marketing of the supplement and did not learn that it contained a banned steroid until after Plaintiff’s purchase and ingestion of same, punitive damages could not be considered as a matter of Florida law.
